The Fatal Conceit

The Errors of Socialism

Paper $18.00ISBN: 9780226320663
Published
October 1991
Not for sale in Europe, Japan, or the British Commonwealth except Canada

E-book $7.00 to $18.00About E-booksISBN: 9780226321158
Published
July 2011
Not for sale in Europe, Japan, or the British Commonwealth except Canada

Hayek gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the "errors of socialism." Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the "fatal conceit" the idea that "man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes."

"The achievement of The Fatal Conceit is that it freshly shows why socialism must be refuted rather than merely dismissed—then refutes it again."—David R. Henderson, Fortune.

Editorial Foreword Preface Introduction: Was Socialism a Mistake? 1. Between Instinct and Reason 2. The Origins of Liberty, Property and Justice 3. The Evolution of the Market: Trade and Civilisation 4. The Revolt of Instinct and Reason 5. The Fatal Conceit 6. The Mysterious World of Trade and Money 7. Our Poisoned Language 8. The Extended Order and Population Growth 9. Religion and the Guardians of Tradition Appendices Editor's Acknowledgements Bibliography Name Index Subject Index

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